El Salvador Deploys 10,000 Soldiers To Surround Gang-Run Capital Suburb

 

CBC/AP: El Salvador deploys 10,000 soldiers, police to town in gang crackdown 

Over 58,000 people jailed since state of emergency declared in March over gang violence 

The government of El Salvador sent 10,000 soldiers and police to seal off a town on the outskirts of the nation's capital Saturday to search for gang members. 

The operation was one of the largest mobilizations yet in President Nayib Bukele's nine-month-old crackdown on street gangs that have long extorted money from businesses and ruled many neighbourhoods of the capital, San Salvador.  

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WNU Editor: 58,000 people jailed since state of emergency declared is a sad sign on how violent El Salvador is. 

El Salvador Deploys 10,000 Soldiers To Surround Gang-Run Capital Suburb  

El Salvador: Thousands of troops surround city in gang crackdown -- BBC 

El Salvador deploys 10000 troops to gang-run capital suburb -- Reuters 

Salvadoran troops surround a major city in crackdown on gangs -- AFP 

El Salvador seals off area in capital to combat gangs -- DW  

El Salvador deploys 10,000 troops to gang-run capital suburb -- Al Jazeera

El Salvador Declares State of Emergency After Gang Killings

 

VOA: El Salvador Declares State of Emergency Over Spike in Gang Killings 

SAN SALVADOR, EL SALVADOR (AFP) — El Salvadoran lawmakers on Sunday declared a state of emergency at President Nayib Bukele’s request, expanding police powers and curtailing civil liberties as the country faces soaring gang-related bloodshed that has left dozens dead in just two days. 

The small Central American nation has endured a fresh wave of gang violence, with police reporting 62 people killed on Saturday alone, and another 14 on Friday. 

Armed with assault rifles and bulletproof vests, police and soldiers patrolled the streets Sunday, with the security cabinet announcing the capture of “more than 400 gang members” from Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and Barrio 18, which are accused of having unleashed a “wave of violence” in the country.  

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El Salvador Declares State of Emergency After Gang Killings  

El Salvador declares state of emergency over wave of gang-related killings -- France 24  

El Salvador proclaims state of emergency as homicides soar -- CNN  

El Salvador Declares 'State Of Emergency' To Combat Gang Murder-Wave -- Zero Hedge  

El Salvador declares state of emergency after gang killings -- Al Jazeera

Armed Police And Soldiers Storm El Salvador's Parliament To Pressure MPs To Back President's Crime Bill

ABC News Online: El Salvador's President uses armed soldiers to pressure MPs to pass anti-crime plan

El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele and a group of soldiers armed with automatic weapons have briefly occupied the country's Congress, stepping up a campaign pressuring MPs to back a crime-fighting plan.

Watched by soldiers in full battle uniform, Mr Bukele, 38, sat in the seat reserved for the president of Congress and cupped his hands together to pray, he said, for patience with MPs, few of whom turned up at the special session.

"If those shameless people don't approve the plan of territorial control, we'll summon you here again [next] Sunday," he told supporters in a fiery speech outside, as he left the building.

Politicians were due to meet on Monday (local time) to discuss the President's proposals, Congress president Mario Ponce said, in a possible sign of de-escalation.

Critics warned of a looming constitutional crisis, however.

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More News On El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele's Use Of The Military to Pressure Parliamentarians To Support His Crime Bill

Backed by soldiers, El Salvador President Bukele briefly occupies Congress -- France 24
Backed by soldiers, El Salvador's president briefly occupies Congress -- Reuters
Heavily-armed police and soldiers enter El Salvador parliament -- BBC
Troops Occupy El Salvador's Legislature To Back President's Crime Package -- NPR
Armed police and troops storm El Salvador's parliament -- CNN
Constitutional crisis in El Salvador over Bukele's security plan -- Al Jazeera

Outsider Nayib Bukele Is Elected President Of El Salvador

BBC: El Salvador election: Nayib Bukele claims presidency

Anti-corruption candidate Nayib Bukele has claimed victory in El Salvador's presidential election.

With most votes counted, the former mayor of San Salvador had nearly 53% of the vote with his closest rival, the conservative Carlos Calleja on 32%.

Mr Bukele, 37, needed more than 50% of the vote to avoid a run-off.

The businessman has vowed to tackle corruption and combat the criminal gangs responsible for one of the world's highest murder rates.

Politics in El Salvador has been dominated over the past three decades by two main parties - the incumbent left-wing FMLN and the conservative Arena.

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More News On Outsider Nayib Bukele Being Elected President Of El Salvador

Bukele wins El Salvador presidency vowing to end corruption -- AP
Outsider Nayib Bukele claims victory in El Salvador presidential election -- France 24
Nayib Bukele, an Outsider Candidate, Claims Victory in El Salvador Election -- The New York Times
Nayib Bukele is elected president of El Salvador, vows to end corruption -- NBC
El Salvador: Nayib Bukele wins presidential election -- DW
Bukele declares victory in El Salvador presidential election -- UPI
Social media star from far-right party declares victory in El Salvador's presidential election -- Los Angeles Times
Nayib Bukele declares victory in El Salvador's elections -- Al Jazeera

Former Leftist Rebel Commander Wins El Salvador Presidential Election

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Former Leftist Guerrilla Wins El Salvador Presidential Election -- Deutsche Welle

Former leftist rebel commander Salvador Sanchez Ceren has won El Salvador’s presidential election by a razor-thin margin. His conservative opponent, Norman Quijano, has vowed to challenge the official results.

The Supreme Electoral Tribunal on Thursday officially declared Sanchez Ceren (pictured) the winner of the Central American nation's presidential election by a margin of just 7,000 votes. He secured 50.1 percent of the ballot compared to 49.9 percent for Quijano.

Sanchez Ceren's victory marks the first time that a majority of Salvadorans have voted for a former rebel commander since the end of the civil war in 1992.

A former teacher and education minister, 69-year-old Sanchez Ceren was among the five highest-ranking rebel commanders, who led the fight against El Salvador's US-backed right-wing government during the 1980s.

At least 76,000 people died in that conflict.

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More News On El Salvador's Presidential Election

Salvadorean ex-rebel Sanchez Ceren wins vote - officials -- BBC
Leftist Declared Winner in Salvador’s Election -- Time/AP
Former guerilla rebel and VP declared El Salvador's president -- France 24
El Salvador Ratifies Sanchez Ceren Disputed Election Victory -- Bloomberg Businessweek
Leftist Appears to Win El Salvador's Tight Presidential Election -- Wall Street Journal
FMLN win disputed El Salvador election -- Al Jazeera
El Salvador army rules out coup in election result dispute -- Reuters
Salvadoran army says it will stay out of election dispute -- FOX News/AP

El Salvador Grapples With Rising Bloodshed

Gang suspects are arrested in a suburb of San Salvador. Gang violence is one factor in the country’s homicide rate, one of the world’s highest. Slayings averaged almost 12 a day in the first three months of this year. Jose Cabezas / AFP/Getty Images

From The L.A. Times:

Drugs, corruption and a history of violence and abuse contribute to a per capita homicide rate that is 10 times that of the U.S. In the first three months of 2009, 12 people were killed each day.

Reporting from San Salvador -- Father Antonio Rodriguez keeps the image on his cellphone. A 12-year-old boy. Headless. His killers probably boys not a whole lot older than him.

When Josue went missing, his frantic grandmother sought the priest's help. Rodriguez went looking for him and found the body. The crime chilled and disgusted him.

Somehow, he needed to document the loss of another young life in a dizzying spin of daily, casual death. And so the blurry photo, the thin, lifeless body in bluejeans and red shirt askew in a ravine, the head off to the side, remains on the priest's cellphone.

"It's the story of thousands," Rodriguez said.

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My Comment: We always look at Somalia, Afghanistan, Darfur and other regions of the world as examples of failed states. We say to ourselves that we are fortunate that it is on the other side of the planet .... too far away to have any impact on our lives.

We cannot think like that anymore. Mexico, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentina .... these are all countries that are slowing "dying" with each passing year. The unfortunate part for all of these countries .... which in the end will impact us in the North .... is that many of these governments are still running the same policies and excuses that have gotten them to where they are today.

El Salvador is a window on what will be the state of most of Latin America tomorrow .... and there is nothing that we in the North can do to change it.

El Salvador's Former Rebels Win Presidential Election -- News Updates

Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front candidate Mauricio Funes, center, with wife Vanda, and running mate Salvador Sanchez Ceren, claimed victory for the leftist party. Experts called his lead insurmountable. He has compared himself to Obama. Jose Cabezas / AFP/Getty Images

Salvadoran Ex-Rebels Win Presidency For First Time -- Yahoo News/AP

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador – A leftist television journalist made history by bringing a party of former guerrillas to power for the first time since the end of a bloody civil war and promised Monday to unite the country after a bitter presidential campaign.

Mauricio Funes, a moderate plucked from outside the ranks of the rebel-group-turned-political-party Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, ended two decades of conservative rule in El Salvador in Sunday's election — and became the latest leftist to rise to power in Latin America at a time of uncertainty over how President Barack Obama will approach the region.

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More News On El Salvador

El Salvador ex-rebels win power through ballot box -- Yahoo News/Reuters
Leftist Declares Victory In El Salvador Election -- Washington Post
Leftist Salvadoran Party Wins Vote -- New York Times
Leftist in El Salvador Claims Victory in Presidential Vote -- Wall Street Journal
El Salvador Elects First Leftist President -- Los Angeles Times
Left-winger wins El Salvador poll -- BBC
El Salvador Taking a Left Turn -- Washington Times editorial
El Salvador Election: Is this a Referendum on Chávez? -- Christian Science Monitor
FACTBOX: Salvadoran President-elect Mauricio Funes -- Reuters

Salvadoran Leftist Leads Presidential Race

Mauricio Funes, right, presidential candidate for El Salvador's Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, FMLN, delivers a speech after inscribing his candidacy for his country's 2009 presidential elections. LUIS ROMERO/AP PHOTO

From The Miami Herald:

The left-wing candidate in the March presidential election has been leading in polls in a polarizing El Salvador campaign.

SAN SALVADOR -- Sixteen years after failing to seize power in a bloody civil war, the left in El Salvador is closer than ever to achieving its goal through the ballot box, as a jittery nation witnesses a furious and dirty campaign to elect the next president.

All sides contending in the March 15 presidential race, as well as in January's municipal elections, agree that the hostile tone of the two main candidates and their supporters has worsened the polarization endemic to Salvadoran politics.

Mauricio Funes, 49, the candidate of the Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional (FMLN), is viewed by detractors as a communist who would throw El Salvador into chaos. His opponent, 44-year-old Rodrigo Avila of the Alianza Republicana Nacionalista (ARENA), is viewed by critics as a conservative who would champion the wealthy elite at the expense of the poor.

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The Ghosts Of El Salvador -- A Commentary

(Click To Enlarge)
Image from Answers.com

A November Surprise In El Salvador?
-- Washington Times

Geovani Galeas and Berne Ayala at first appear to be two engaging men totally outside the journalism and political sectors.

Nevertheless, Messrs.Galeas and Ayala are clearly committed to a project which, among other results, bids fair to be a decisive factor in El Salvador's elections, due in January and March. They discussed their daunting project with me recently in the country's capital, San Salvador, over mojitos, rum and plates of finger food.

First, their backgrounds. From 1978 to 1993, Geovani Galeas, alias "Juancito," was a dedicated, militant radical socialist guerrilla in the ERP (People's Revolutionary Army), predecessor to the FMLN (Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front). Ernesto Ayala, known to this day by his guerrilla alias "Berne," was a committed (and seriously wounded) communist guerrilla from 1982 to the end of the civil war in 1992.

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My Comment: This will be distasteful .... but necessary. The Salvadorians must reconcile with their history.